


Upgrade

by FieryArtemis



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014), Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen, Tadashi Lives!AU, scientist!AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-13 23:49:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9147418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FieryArtemis/pseuds/FieryArtemis
Summary: Tadashi Hamada, brother of one of the most well known teenaged Superheroes, finds himself in a load of trouble.  In Paris.  With a colleague who suddenly went through a transformation into a Supervillain.  Yeah.  This has to be the weirdest robotics conference he’s been to yet.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> If anybody could explain this crossover to me I would be very happy. I have no clue how it even happened. A few months ago someone asked me to write the first part so I did. Then today I got a message asking me about a sequel and it turned into a freaking two-shot. Originally a tumblr exclusive, now uploaded to AO3. Includes an original character from my story called "Scientist." There's a whole heckuva long backstory behind that so it's easier if you just read it. Or not. I tried to make these two stories as stand alone as possible. Then again... I don't know. Someone help me please.

“Well  _ this _ is just great!” snapped Tadashi as he ducked down behind a table.  His friend Travis Fuller glared at him..  

 

“Don’t look at me!  This isn’t my fault.” he shot back.  Travis’s fingers twitched at waist.  Probably missing the firearm he’d carried when he was still in the Air Force though that was more than a couple years ago.  

 

“Come out, come out wherever you are Dr. Hamada.” yelled the man calling himself the ‘Upgrade.’

 

“What did you do again?” Travis hissed.

 

“I didn’t do  _ anything _ !” he insisted.  “I pointed out Dr. Mercier that some of his research was haphazardly recorded and his findings might not be as accurate as he was leading people to believe.”

 

“Right and this was a good thing to in a city where it’s suspected that something makes upset people turn into Supervillains because…”

 

“Academic and scientific integrity!” Tadashi muttered.  Most scientists wouldn’t have taken such drastic offense.  To bad Dr. Mercier’s arrogance was about as inflated as the Hindenburg Dirigible.  About as explosive too it appeared.  There was a massive crash followed by the whirring of a massive saw.  Some students who’d attended the Robotics Conference of a field trip from the local middle school screamed in terror.

 

Tadashi and Travis poked their head up from behind their hiding place.  They winced simultaneously.  Six students or so hunkered together by the stairwell as one of the gigantic robots the Upgrade had sicced on the conference made it’s way towards them.  It was the kind of bot that Hiro would’ve salivated over.   _ Imagine all the bot fights I could’ve won with that Nii-chan _ , he could almost hear Hiro say excitedly.  

 

One girl with long blonde hair in a ponytail screamed particularly loud as she clamped on to the shoulders of the boy in front of her.  “We’ve got to do something.” Tadashi whispered.

 

He tried his best to ignore the phantom tingling that stemmed from the massive web of burn scars that covered one side of his body.  The last time he’d been in a collapsing conference hall hadn’t been a good time for him.  For way more than one reason.  At least there was no fire this time and he was fairly certain that there was no evil organization hiding in the shadows here.  “What do you suggest?” asked Travis.  “Aren’t there supposed to be a pair of Superheroes in this city who deal with craziness like this?”

 

“They’re high school students at best and they’re probably in class right now.  I don’t think we should hope for their intervention to hard.”

 

“Oh… don’t let Hiro and Vera hear you say that.  Former teenaged heroes and all that fun stuff but you’re right.  We’ve got to get those kids out of here.  First and foremost.”

 

“Come out Dr. Hamada and I’ll show you how accurate my findings are!” Upgrade called.  The students shrieked.

 

Tadashi nodded, “Agreed.”

 

“I’ll distract him.” Travis said.  He picked up a discarded metal pipe.  “Help the kids.”

 

Tadashi’s eyes went wide.  It was  _ him _ that Upgrade was angry with.  “Wait!  Hold on a sec!  Doesn’t it make more sense for me to distract the crazy man?”

 

Too late though.  Travis vaulted over top the table, swinging the pipe and yelling at the top of his lungs, “Hey short circuit!  Over here!”

 

Tadashi slapped his hand against his face.  Wonderful! 

 

He stole a glance from underneath the table.  The killer robot that had been going after the students was now solely focused on Travis.  There was no sign of Upgrade though Tadashi could hear him yelling at the robots to leave Travis be and look for him.  That was when he took his chance and bolted for the students.  

 

“Courir!  Courir!” Tadashi yelled at them.  He didn’t know a lot of French and his pronunciation was probably horrendous.  However, the look on his face and the frantic hand motions were hard to misinterpret.

 

Some of the kids didn’t need to be told twice.  The blonde haired girl fled with a red head girl right behind her right away, leaving their other friends far behind.  A couple of them looked back towards the killer robots warily.  A girl with long brown and red hair bit her lip and pointed back.  “Marinette est toujours là.”

 

The boy with glasses standing beside her nodded and added something.  The only word that Tadashi caught was “Adrien.”  If he had to guess there were still at least two students still somewhere in the conference hall.  “It’s alright.  It’s alright.  Go!  Go!” he said, pushing them in the direction of the door.

 

This was starting to feel  _ way  _ too familiar.  As the kids sprinted away, Tadashi looked around the quickly emptying conference center.  Travis had managed to shove his metal pole into the robot’s unprotected knee joint.  There were no missing students though.  “Oi!  What are you doing over there?” yelled Travis.

 

Tadashi spun to look.  There a teenaged boy skulking about the bottom of one of the exhibition podiums.  Unfortunately the killer robots saw him too.  Travis went pale and launched himself right at the kid as the robots revved up their laser cannons.  Someone gasped in horror about ten feet from his elbow.  

 

Laser light flared and something sizzled.  Travis looked up from his position on the ground.  The exhibition podium had a huge hole burned in its center right where the boy’s head had been.  Tadashi quickly looked over to where he’d heard the voice and found its source quickly.  A tiny girl with black hair in pigtails was crouched behind one of the partition walls close by him.  Tadashi sprinted to her side.  

 

“Travis!  Let’s get out of here!” he yelled as scooped the girl up, completely ignoring her cry of surprise.  She struggled against him like she wanted to stay in the besieged conference hall.  Actually she put up even more of a fight than Hiro ever had when he’d tried to pull him away from bot fighting. “Sorry.  You can’t stay here.  Too dangerous.”

 

“Right behind ya!” Travis called as he pulled the boy to his feet.  The boy seemed to be just as uncooperative as the girl.  The boy looked like he would have dug claws into the ground if he’d had any.  Here was hoping that they got the idea that they were trying to help and weren’t the bad guys here.

 

An electronic whir made the hair on the back of Tadashi’s neck stand on end.  Travis, the boy, and the girl in his arms just barely got the first words of warning out when his subconscious kicked in.  Tadashi threw himself to the side, cradling the girl’s head close to his chest to protect her.  Above him, the ceiling cracked.  Plaster fell to the ground in huge pieces as parts of the interior piping crashed to the ground.  Yep!  This was way too familiar.  Someone laughed.  “I’ve got you Dr. Hamada.”

 

“Leave him alone!” Travis yelled.  Tadashi looked up but couldn’t find Travis.

 

Dust floated in the air.  Tadashi and the girl both coughed as they waved their hands in front of their faces like it would expel some of the particles.  That was when Tadashi realized that there was no way out anymore.  The exit they’d been running for was completely blocked off.  He cursed under his breath.  

 

Standing in front of him was weirdest looking Supervillain he’d ever seen.  And he’d seen a lot of them.  Like Dr. Mercier, his alter ego was short, wore a lab coat, and sported the latest fashion in glasses.  Unlike Dr. Mercier, Upgrade’s shocking white hair stood straight up in the air.  His boots doubled as a kind of hovering device.  Then there was the large remote control in his hands.  It looked like an oversized fighting bot control.  If Tadashi had to take a wild guess that was how Upgrade was controlling the killer robots.

 

Tadashi only just barely kept himself from dropping the girl on the ground before shoving her behind him.  He spread his arms out wide so that if Upgrade sent anything towards them,  _ he _ would receive the brunt of it.  “You’re in the long line of work if you can’t take someone critiquing your work Dr. Mercier.” Tadashi told him coldly.  

 

“I prefer Upgrade now.” he sneered.  “I don’t know what Dr. Callaghan taught you at SFIT but it definitely wasn’t manners.”

 

“You got me there.” shrugged Tadashi.  A front.  It was all a front.  He needed to loosen up.  As discreetly as he could, he glanced over at Travis.  Travis stood in front of the boy with his hands balled into fists.  The boy had to be a classmate of the girl that was behind him.  As long as they stayed in the conference hall with them and Upgrade, they were in serious danger.  One wayward blast from one of the robots’ laser cannons could spell painful disaster.  He and Travis had to protect them.  Judging from his stance, Travis agreed.  His fists were raised and his feet angled towards Upgrade.  All they needed was to give the kids an opening to escape.  

 

Tadashi turned his attention back to Upgrade.  More specifically, the controller in his hand.  He knew enough about the world of Superheroes and spies to know the best way to stop a Supervillain.  Disable or render their powers ineffective… or separate them from their main weapon.  

 

Well, this probably wouldn’t even  _ rank _ in the top ten dumbest things he’d ever done.  “I focused a little more on sound science and thorough note taking.”  he smirked.

 

“You little ba…” snarled Upgrade, stepping forward.  Opening number one!

 

Tadashi jumped forward.  Both his hands closed around Upgrade’s half extended arm and pulled it closer to him.  Upgrade shrieked in shock as Tadashi yanked and twisted downwards.  Years of practice and muscle memory allowed Tadashi to immediately bring his foot in front of Upgrade’s leg.  However, along with the loud shriek, Upgrade also panicked.  A more experienced opponent wouldn’t have been thrown immediately off balance.  Scientists didn’t typically practice martial arts so it made sense to Tadashi why Dr. Mercier’s alter ego flew to the ground way before he sent him there. It also made sense as to why Tadashi toppled to the ground with him.

 

A sharp pain rolled through his elbow and up his arm.  He winced and hissed.  Upgrade struggled somewhere underneath him.  Tadashi heard a faint click followed by the sound of metal shifting.  The robots he realized.  That wasn’t good.  The girl he’d pulled away from the wall still stood looking at him in utter shock.  At least she had a chance to get away now.

 

“Courir, vite.” he told her hoping that she would get the idea.  The language barrier irritated him to no end.  

 

“Go!  Go!  Get out of here!” Travis urged, presumably at the boy he’d been trying to help out.  

 

The girl ran.  Not a moment too soon either.  The laser cannons came to life and a bolt came sailing in the general direction of where she had been.  And then it started creeping closer.  “Uh… not good.” he muttered.

 

He kicked himself out of the tangled mess he and Upgrade had fallen into.  Travis yelled something at him.  Another warning most likely but he didn’t hear it over the low-pitched whine of the laser cannon that was had been directly above his ear.  Tadashi glared at Upgrade.  “That cut it a little close don’t you think?” 

 

“Stand still!” snapped Upgrade.

 

Another laser pulse cut through the air.   Tadashi narrowly dodged.   _ Yeah, _ he thought,  _ no thanks _ .  

 

“Oh no you don’t!” Travis said.

 

It appeared as though the boy had followed his classmate’s example and had made his escape as well.  Without another person to protect, Travis focused entirely on the killer robots.  He sprinted and used a broken display table to launch himself into the air at the robot’s arm.  The same arm that the cannon was mounted on.  The laser shooting stopped abruptly.  Probably because Travis was bashing some random heavy object on top of it.  

 

Upgrade spun around.  Tadashi saw him toggle switches as he let loose a wordless, fierce growl.  Another robot spun, raising its laser cannon as it went, to help its comrade out.  Tadashi’s feet moved on their own.  “On your left!”

 

The light from the second robot’s laser cannon blinded his peripheral vision.  Travis let go of the arm and let himself fall off the robot.  Right when he landed on the ground the laser hit the killer robot straight on the arm.  It plowed through all the way up to the chest and shoulder.  Sparks flew.  Metal screeched.  Smoke rose in the air.  Tadashi wondered if Travis had planned that.  It was a stunning maneuver.  The wobbling of the destroyed robot was definitely  _ not _ planned though as it was coming right down on top of Travis!

 

Tadashi cursed under his breath.  Right before the heavy chunk of metal fell on top of him though, a black staff came out of nowhere and crashed into the robot’s side.  The sound that emanated from the collision rang through the entire conference hall.  “Chat Noir!” Upgrade gasped, his hands falling to his side.

 

The killer robot fell to the ground a safe distance from Travis’s sprawled out form.  Standing over him protectively was a young boy who was probably no older than fifteen.  He wore a literal black cat suit and matching mask. There was a bell at his throat and his belt tied around the back of his waist like a tail.  A pair of cat ears sat on top of ruffled blond hair.  He spun his staff around and leaned against it.  Apparently this was Chat Noir.  One half of the Superhero duo that called Paris, France their home.  A familiar feeling pricked the back of Tadashi’s mind.  He shoved it back down though as it wasn’t really the time.

 

Chat Noir said something in French to Upgrade with a cheeky little smile on his face.  He then turned to Travis and gave him a thumbs up like he was proud of whatever he’d just said.  Upgrade looked unimpressed.  Tadashi assumed it was some kind of joke.  “I like to press buttons with these kind of guys.” he explained in accented but good English to Travis.  

 

He winked and pointed to the remote control in Upgrade’s hand.  Another Superhero with puns.  Great.  Fred would’ve had a field day. Travis gave a weak little laugh and mimicked the thumbs up.  

 

Upgrade spat something at Chat Noir.  Tadashi caught the word ‘miraculous’ but nothing else.  Going off of Upgrade’s tone and the way he held out his hand, it was clearly a demand for something.  Chat Noir straightened up.  His hand tightened around his staff and he brought it in front of him defensively.  He answered Upgrade.  Tadashi didn’t need to know any French to understand it was a ‘no.’  Upgrade, who had conveniently forgotten about Tadashi and Travis, said something else to Chat Noir in a scathing tone.  He raised his remote control.

 

Chat Noir charged.  He brought his staff around his body in a wide, sweeping arc.  Upgrade let out a startled gasp.  His hover boots gave a ‘whoosh’ sound as they engaged.  He shot straight up into the air over their heads, hitting some sort of switch on the remote control as he went.  Chat Noir winced as he followed Upgrade with his eyes.  The killer robots shifted.  Every single one of them pivoted to face either himself, Travis, or Chat Noir.  Light glowed from the end of their laser cannons.  “That’s not good.” Tadashi said.

 

“Any way to get us out of this?” Travis asked nervously as he hauled himself to his feet.  “Got any technology up your sleeve to counteract these guys?”

 

“Working on it.” Tadashi told him.  There was always a way out of something.  It was a matter of finding it.  The only real problem they had at the moment was that Upgrade wasn’t going to give them the time.

 

Tadashi jumped sideways as the laser fire came.  He heard Travis and Chat Noir scramble to get out of the way too.  Upgrade hung above them muttering angrily as he flipped switches and toggled joysticks.  He snapped something that Tadashi was pretty certain equivalent to stand still.  

 

“Lucky Charm!” cried a second voice that obviously belonged to a young girl.

 

“Ladybug!” Chat Noir cried happily as Upgrade said the same with a decidedly much more acrimonious connotation.

 

A tiny girl wearing a red spandex suit covered with black spots.  On her face was a matching mask.  Her black hair was tied back with red hair ties.  In one hand she had a yo-yo of the same color scheme as her suit.  In the other she held a red and black dotted scrunchy.  The little gears inside of Tadashi’s brain screeched to a grinding halt.  That was the same exact girl that he’d…

 

He looked over at Chat Noir.  The same recognition filtered over him.  Travis had come close enough for him to touch.  Tadashi smacked him on the shoulder and pointed to the two heroes.  They weren’t paying a lick of attention to either one of them now.  Neither was Upgrade.  Confusion covered Travis’s face for a half second.  Then it dawned on him too.  

 

“Chat!” Ladybug called to her partner to get his attention.  The boy leapt into action with a bright smile on his face.  They shared a quick word of strategy before Ladybug swung her yo-yo over her head and zipped to the side.  Chat Noir used his staff to propel himself into the air.  He went feet first towards Upgrade.  It was unsurprising that Upgrade saw it coming from a mile away.  However, that might have been the point.  He shot backwards to avoid Chat Noir’s flying kick…

 

And right into Ladybug’s waiting plan.  She stretched the scrunchy out as far as it would go on two fingers, one on each hand.  It went flying like a middle school boy’s assault on a substitute teacher.  At first Tadashi thought it had gone to low as the scrunchy flew nearly six inches away from the bottom of Upgrade’s feet.  Then, just like a vacuum cleaner picking up a wad of hair, the scrunchy flew upwards… right into the airflow that the hover shoes were using to function.

 

Upgrade yelled and flailed his arms to stay balanced as one hover shoe promptly stopped working.  The remote controller he’d been so hellbent on hanging on to clattered to the ground rather anticlimatically.  The robots slumped forward without anything controlling them and telling them what to do.  Tadashi’s eyes went wide as he saw the end of the chaotic path Upgrade was on.  He and Travis barely managed to duck out of the way and avoid having their heads kicked in.  Instead, Upgrade flew straight into the wall of debris he’d created when he’d blocked off the escape routes.  

 

“Hey no wait!” Tadashi yelled as he saw Ladybug bring her foot down on top of the remote controller.  CRACK!  “Ah-hah!  That was thousands of dollars of technology.”

 

“Says the guy who destroyed probably millions of dollars worth of murder hive bots a little over two years ago.” Travis said rolling his eyes.  “Besides he literally…”

 

His voice trailed off as a black butterfly pulled itself away from the mangled wreckage of the remote controller.  Travis’s jaw dropped.  “How in the…  Robot boy!  Explain!”

 

“I have no idea.” Tadashi answered as he tried to scrape his own jaw off the floor.  He’d seen a lot of things in his time that he really couldn’t explain scientifically but this one definitely took the cake.  

 

Ladybug pressed something on the top of her yo-yo and it glowed white.  With a big smile on her face she twirled it over her head and then threw it like a lasso towards the butterfly.  If he hadn’t have been watching, Tadashi never would’ve believed it. That wasn’t a yo-yo.  It couldn’t be.  It had to be some sort of high tech gadget doodad weapon thing because it opened up and  _ swallowed _ the butterfly.  Ladybug yanked it back to her.  She was still smiling as she pressed the button again.  This time when the butterfly came out it was snow white.  “Bye bye petit papillon.” Ladybug laughed and waved as it flew away.

 

Okay.  Nevermind.   _ That  _ took the cake for unexplainable things.

 

Chat Noir and Ladybug turned to each other and gave a fist bump.  “Bien joué!” cheered the two teenaged Superheroes.

 

Someone behind them groaned.  Tadashi and Travis turned, half expecting to see Upgrade still ready to sic killer robots at them.  However, it was Dr. Mercier that picked his head up from the rubble.  Chat Noir held out his hand and helped him up as Ladybug picked up the red and black spotted scrunchy.  “Miraculous Ladybug!” she called out, tossing it into the air.

 

It was like some sort of spell.  Red light washed over the conference hall.  It twisted around the walls and ceiling, over tables and chairs, even over the giant killer robots.  When it faded everything was completely back to normal.  Not a piece of debris was on the ground.  The exit was cleared.  Tables and chairs were righted.  The killer robots were gone and the remote controller that had commanded them was back in one piece.  “You know what… Don’t try to explain this one.  I think it would just make my head hurt.” Travis said.

 

Tadashi smirked.  “You mean it isn’t already because mine sure is.” 

 

A sharp double beep rang in the air.  Ladybug touched the side of her head for a moment before looking up at them.  “Take care.  Good bye.” she told them brightly.

 

Tadashi and Travis waved at her retreating back.  Chat Noir gave them a little bow that bordered on feeling a little cocky.  Then he sprinted off too.  Whoever they were, Tadashi doubted that they were metahumans or a pair of kids with sophisticated tech.  If anything it felt like magic.  That was impossible though.  “I guess those two kids didn’t need us to save them after all.” Tadashi sighed.

 

“Probably not.” agreed Travis.  He went silent for a moment.  “It is incredibly important to me that my wife, former teenaged Superheroine, never finds out about this incident.”

 

“You mean how we nearly got our rear ends handed to us by a few homicidal robots or that we had to be bailed out by middle schoolers?”

 

“Both.  I don’t think I could take the hysterical laughter.”

 

“So long as we can add Hiro and the rest of my friends to that list your secret is safe with me.  Nothing says fuel for blackmail than Vera and Hiro finding out about this.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

“So...” Hiro said.  He drew the word out to a full five seconds while drumming his fingers along the top of one of the many counters in Tadashi’s lab.  Tadashi looked up from organizing his notes.  

“So what?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“How was the conference in Paris?” asked Hiro.  Tadashi bit back his wince and quickly ducked his face behind a handful of notes.  He’d been pretty vague about the events of Paris, Upgrade, and the two teen heroes with Aunt Cass and Hiro.  The entire thing had been hushed up pretty nicely by the city and barely any word had gotten out about the raging unexplainable villain that had popped up and then disappeared with the same inexplicableness.  Tadashi had thought that he’d been doing a bang up job not spilling the secret himself.  However, with the way that Hiro spoke... it was clear that he was probing for something.  There wasn’t any possible way that he could know about what had really happened though.  

“Fine.  It was fine.  Saw some cool tech.  Listened to some good lectures.  Talked shop with some brilliant minds?  Pretty run of the mill conference.  Should’ve been there.  It was lots of fun.”

“I bet...” shrugged Hiro.  Tadashi breathed a small sigh of relief before setting his notes down in a neat stack again.  “Especially with that Supervillain that you got to go head to head against with Travis.”

Tadashi jerked and all his notes went scattering through the air and on to the floor.  “How did you find out about that?” he demanded.  “The Paris mayor told us that it had to be kept secret!”

Apparently Hiro could know about Upgrade and one Mayor Bourgeois’s hush-hush plan wasn’t as fool proof as he thought it was.

Hiro glared at him.  “I’m a Superhero!  It’s my job to know these things!”

“Okay but how?”

“The internet!” snapped Hiro.  He pulled his phone out of his pocket and jammed it in Tadashi’s face.  The message board prominently displayed Dr. Mercier’s villainous counterpart ‘Upgrade’ and his giant robots.  Because how else was a giant Supervillain supposed to gain attention?  Tadashi ran his hand through his hair and groaned.  Perfect!  “What the hell were you thinking?”

“Mostly about how it was even possible for Dr. Mercier to transform into a literal mad scientist.” he muttered under his breath.  Hiro appreciated the smart remark about as much as he would’ve if the positions had been reversed.

“Did you even stop to think about what happened the last time something bad went down in a convention hall?”

Tadashi looked up abruptly, eyes narrowed.  A certain kind of coldness permeated through him.  “Of course I did.” 

“Paris seems to have a lot of random Supervillains popping up over the last few months.  I told you to be careful and what’s the one thing you do when you see one?  You jump on top of the crazy man’s arm and try to wrestle away his item of mass destruction!  Oh and Travis tried to tackle one of his giant robots!  Very smart nii-chan!  You should have run!”

“There were a bunch of fourteen-fifteen year olds cowering underneath the stairs Hiro!  Would you have left them?” 

“I’m a Superhero!  It’s different for me!” Hiro yelled at him.

Tadashi yelled right back.  “It’s no different!” 

“Dr. Hamada?” some poor undergrad stuck her head through the door.  Her eyes were wide and she looked like she was shaking.  “Is everything okay?”

Tadashi and Hiro immediately stepped away from each other.  He wasn’t entirely sure when they’d gotten so close to one another.  “Everything’s fine.  Go back to work.” he assured her with a thin smile that thankfully seemed to put her at ease.

“There’s chatter on the message board that says it was you this bad guy was after.” Hiro murmured.  So that was the heart of the matter then.  Tadashi winced and that was answer enough for Hiro.  “Why?”

“I criticized his work.  He didn’t like it.  The next thing I knew, Upgrade was chasing Travis and I through the convention hall and laser canons were destroying everything.”

“How was he not arrested and charged?” Hiro asked coldly.

“Something about how it was an act of possession and he wasn’t in his right mind or something weird like that.  I don’t know.  The mayor tried explaining it to me but all I got was ‘please don’t put this on the news, Paris can’t handle that kind of negative publicity.’  I figured since Travis and I were no strangers to the world of Superheroes and spies that we could go along with it.  Besides... I really didn’t want to have to fill out the S.H.I.E.L.D. paperwork.”

“I don’t blame you there.”  Hiro shook his head.  “Was anybody hurt?  I couldn’t tell from the boards.  The translation was weird and off.  It said something along the lines of all damage was reversed as usual.  I’m guessing that meant that clean up crews got it taken care of pretty quick.”

“No, no one was hurt and it wasn’t a cleaning crew.  One half of the Superhero duo that works there has some really strange powers that seem to fix battle related carnage.”

Hiro snorted, “Yeah right.”

Tadashi gave him a look.  “I’m serious.  That hall was in pieces by the time the heroes got there.  When they left, you couldn’t even tell that there’d been a giant bot fight there.”

“How do those Superpowers even work?  Sounds more like magic which everyone knows is impossible.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure otouto.” 

Hiro jolted and spun to glare at him.  “You can’t possibly be telling me that it was magic.”

“Well, I can’t figure out anything else it could be.”

“Magic is not real.”

Tadashi just shrugged.  He wouldn’t go into how Travis had tracked down one of Vera’s high school friends turned geneticist to ask her exactly how likely it was to have magic based Superpowers.  Or how that friend had smiled and asked Travis if he was familiar with a Superhero named Yù Guī or Merlin.  Whatever that meant exactly.  Tadashi had been too afraid to look it up.  Hiro let the subject go without much more argument.

“I guess I shouldn’t complain.  Whatever those guy’s powers were, they made sure you got out of there alive.  For that they’re okay in my books.”

He turned his head to the side as he recalled the pair of scrawny kids that he and Travis had tried to save.  Granted it had turned out that those scrawny kids were plenty self-sufficient and then some.  Ladybug and Chat Noir, young though they were, more than ‘okay’ to him.  “Fred would probably get along great with Chat Noir.  He throws puns out in the middle of a fight.”

“I’m more interested in the girl...” Hiro said.  A sly smile flitted across his face.  

“Um... no.” Tadashi told him firmly.

“Oh, come on!  She’s pretty cute.  She’s got an entire fanblog devoted to her.  I spent all afternoon on it the other day.  Next time you go to Paris, I’m coming with you so you can introduce me to her!”

“Absolutely not!  She’s jailbait to you!”

“Jailbait?  I’m nineteen!  The fanblog says she’s eighteen.  I’m pretty sure we’re okay there.”

“Hiro quit waggling your eyebrows!  That fanblog is wrong.  She’s fourteen or fifteen!”

“You sound so sure.” teased Hiro.

“Well she and her partner attended the conference with one of the local colleges, which is France’s version of middle school so...”

“Ignoring how you seem to have come to that conclusion, I would like to focus on something else.” Hiro raised an eyebrow this time.  

“What?” Tadashi asked in exasperation.

“You’re telling me not only did you get thrashed by some giant robots but you had to have a pair of kids help you and Travis, a top level roboticist and a highly decorated former USAF Airman respectively, stop said giant robots and their crazy inventor?”

“It was a little more than that and... stop laughing at me!”

Hiro’s laughter was loud enough to ring through the hallways Tadashi was sure. There were even tears in his eyes as he hung off the counter for support.  “You... you... had to bailed out by the local teen heroes!”

“You’re a former local teen hero!” Tadashi reminded him.  A part of him died inside of humiliation as he listened to Hiro’s laughter get even louder.

“Yeah but... but you’re a... and Travis is... oh my God!  Wait until I tell Vera about this!”

“Hiro please don’t!” Tadashi begged desperately.  Hiro already had his phone out and was working on dialing Vera’s number.

“If I’m lucky she hasn’t reamed Travis out yet like she said she was going to.  Oh this will be the perfect thing for her to get back at him!”

“Hiro!  Give me that phone!” 

Hiro flashed a smug little grin at him before sprinting out of the lab.  Tadashi was right behind him.

 


End file.
